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Tag Archives: Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania appellate courts decided about two dozen cases that one could call “environmental” last year. A brief review follows that necessarily gives short shrift to some of these opinions. This review may also omit some cases, for which I apologize. Read Environmental Cases in the Pennsylvania Appellate Courts During 2017 by clicking here.… Continue Reading

An appeal pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit asks whether CERCLA preempts state law claims for medical monitoring in Giovanni v. U.S. Department of the Navy, No. 17-2473 (3d Cir.). This is an important issue in the context of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) because the exact health effects remain in dispute. … Continue Reading

On Oct. 16, the Environmental Protection Agency published its proposal to repeal the carbon pollution emission guidelines for existing electric power plants, the centerpiece of the Clean Power Plan, 82 Fed. Reg. 48,035. That action serves as a reminder that the current national administration takes seriously its promise to deregulate business under the environmental laws. … Continue Reading

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s June decision in Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation v. Wolf, 161 A.3d 911 (Pa. 2017) (PEDF), has sparked many conversations about how the newly interpreted Environmental Rights Amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution will be implemented. In my column this month for the Pennsylvania Law Weekly I hope to catalogue at least some … Continue Reading

A decision rendered last month by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania reinterpreted the commonwealth’s obligations under Article I, Section 27 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, known as the Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA). The Supreme Court sided with the appellant, Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF), in PEDF v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvani a, 10 MAP 2015, and held … Continue Reading

On Friday, June 2, a Pennsylvania intermediate appellate court held that air emissions from a natural gas gathering system compression station and a natural gas well pad served by that gathering system could not be aggregated for purposes of air emissions permitting because they were owned by different corporations, albeit corporate affiliates. National Fuel Gas … Continue Reading

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is the largest generator of coal ash in the United States. Pennsylvania is home to roughly 100 coal ash disposal facilities, three of which have been classified as “high hazard” by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Throughout the country, numerous electric generating facilities … Continue Reading

Millions of Americans are coming to grips with the broad social and political ramifications of Donald Trump’s stunning upset victory in last Tuesday’s presidential election. And while the president-elect’s policy pronouncements to date have been short on detail, one thing is clear: those concerned with environmental protection and climate change had better buckle up for … Continue Reading

Recently, lawyers from Philadelphia’s Environmental Practice Group attended the Pennsylvania Environmental Law Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Organized by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the annual Forum includes educational presentations by experienced practitioners along with networking events. Jillian Kirn gave a presentation on cooling water intake structures commonly used by industrial facilities, such as power plants, and the … Continue Reading

Environmental quality is important, but it is just one set of the objectives of public policy. Is it possible to think about the incentives set by environmental regulatory decisions and the outcomes they induce as part of a more integrated policy? Perhaps not. Consider Michigan v. EPA, No. 14-46 (U.S. Nov. 25, 2014). Last month, … Continue Reading

In February 2012, Pennsylvania adopted comprehensive revisions to its Oil and Gas Act known as “Act 13.” Among the changes was an expanded preemption of local regulation of oil and gas activities. Prior law prohibited municipalities from regulating “how” oil and gas development would proceed, but permitted zoning control over “where” development could occur. Act … Continue Reading

If you know contaminated industrial property would be worth $X clean, what is the proper way to value the contamination? Maybe it is just the “cost to cure,” but that does not capture any “stigma” that may stay with the property. And then there is a wrinkle if the property is the subject of an agreement … Continue Reading

A lot of the climate change news recently — and I note it below — has focused on climate change “mitigation.” Mitigation is steps that might be taken to slow or to avoid changes in the climate. Of course, that first requires an identification of causes of climate change. That runs into an ideological dispute … Continue Reading

As of September 8, 2013, 162 appeals had been filed in the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board. Some are appeals by disappointed applicants for permits. Some are third-party appeals of permits. Some are appeals from enforcement orders. Of those 162 appeals, 19 are appeals from enforcement orders issued to individuals. Of those, at least some are … Continue Reading

Recently introduced legislation in Pennsylvania’s General Assembly proposes to create new statutory requirements for the release of terminated or cancelled oil or natural gas leases of record. If enacted, House Bill 402 would require lessees under oil or natural gas leases to deliver releases in recordable form to landowners at least 30 days prior to the termination or cancellation of such lease. … Continue Reading

Section 613 of the Pennsylvania Solid Waste Management Act (“SWMA”), Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 35, § 6018.613, allows the Commonwealth or any municipality to recover the “costs of abatement” of “a public nuisance” under SWMA from a person who “causes a public nuisance” if the plaintiff government has in fact abated the nuisance. This provision … Continue Reading

Pennsylvania has been making news recently for being friendly to natural gas development, or at least more friendly than New York. However, examination of recent decisions suggests that the courts may be a little more plaintiff-friendly than, for example, the current administration. I look at some litigation issues arising from natural gas development in my … Continue Reading

My October Environmental Practice Column in the Pennsylvania Law Weekly considers issues presented by the intersection of the bar on pre-enforcement review and reliance on “institutional controls.” These issues come up in federal Superfund matters under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 9601-75. However, the discussion was motivated by a September 4 ruling by … Continue Reading

On July 2, Pennsylvania Governor Corbett signed Act 87 of 2012 into law imposing a moratorium on issuance of new natural gas well drilling permits for wells targeting the South Newark Basin, a formation that underlies parts of Southeastern Pennsylvania. As has been reported in the press, legislators reacted to a report issued by the … Continue Reading

An injunction in Robinson Township v. Pa PUC on April 11 and a federal Executive Order on April 13 raise the question of which government ought to be the primary regulator of new natural gas development. David Mandelbaum's Pennsylvania Law Weekly column, Preemption and Natural Gas Development: Who is the Decider?, 35 PLW 404 (May 1, 2012), explores the issue.
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